The Trump-Russia Investigation
Jul 22, 2017 12:52:53 GMT -6
Post by Hawk on Jul 22, 2017 12:52:53 GMT -6
For those of you who have not been keeping up with politics and current events, some pretty big things happened recently in regards to the role Russia played in our previous Presidential election. Most recently, a report has been leaked that states that Trump's Attorney general, Jeff Sessions, met with Russia's ambassador several times despite denying that any such meetings ever took place while under oath. This, combined with the recent emails released by Trump Jr. have made one thing abundantly clear: the claim that there has been no contact between Trump's team and Russian officials is false. So, the question is where do we go from here? Will this be the event that eventually leads to Trump being impeached? Will it be a controversy that will be swept under the rug? Will Trump pardon himself and the rest of his family if they were involved? And most importantly, what does this mean for the future of our Democracy?
Here is a summary of events. It's the briefest I could find online, but it is still quite lengthy. Here is a video from Last Week Tonight that also does a good job of summarizing events, up until a certain point in time, but keep in mind that Oliver is firmly liberal. For more recent additions, here are the emails between Trump Jr and a Russian lawyer asking about information regarding Hillary Clinton. Finally, here is the recent leak about Sessions.
My opinion on the matter is pretty straightforward, and should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me. I will take any excuse to impeach Trump, and this seems like the chain of events that will eventually lead to it. Colluding with a foreign power in order to influence an election is very dangerous (though not necessarily illegal). Obviously, there are a lot of things we still do not know about the case, specifically anything that links Donald Trump directly to these events. It may feel as though every single member of his family and administration were in contact with Russia, but thus far the smoking gun in this case has yet to be found (or, at the very least, made known to the public). I often predicted that the best evidence from this case will most likely come from Trump himself, either by something he says (such as how he stated that he fired Comey over the Russia investigations) or from his precious tax returns. In this case, it seems like the biggest piece of evidence came not from Trump, but his son. However, as Trump becomes more and more desperate (as his recent tweets and actions seem to indicate) there is a good chance that more info will be made available soon enough.
Regardless, we can all agree that this case is far from over. Please discuss all matters related to the Russian investigation here and leave debates about the quality of Trump's presidency elsewhere.
Here is a summary of events. It's the briefest I could find online, but it is still quite lengthy. Here is a video from Last Week Tonight that also does a good job of summarizing events, up until a certain point in time, but keep in mind that Oliver is firmly liberal. For more recent additions, here are the emails between Trump Jr and a Russian lawyer asking about information regarding Hillary Clinton. Finally, here is the recent leak about Sessions.
My opinion on the matter is pretty straightforward, and should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me. I will take any excuse to impeach Trump, and this seems like the chain of events that will eventually lead to it. Colluding with a foreign power in order to influence an election is very dangerous (though not necessarily illegal). Obviously, there are a lot of things we still do not know about the case, specifically anything that links Donald Trump directly to these events. It may feel as though every single member of his family and administration were in contact with Russia, but thus far the smoking gun in this case has yet to be found (or, at the very least, made known to the public). I often predicted that the best evidence from this case will most likely come from Trump himself, either by something he says (such as how he stated that he fired Comey over the Russia investigations) or from his precious tax returns. In this case, it seems like the biggest piece of evidence came not from Trump, but his son. However, as Trump becomes more and more desperate (as his recent tweets and actions seem to indicate) there is a good chance that more info will be made available soon enough.
Regardless, we can all agree that this case is far from over. Please discuss all matters related to the Russian investigation here and leave debates about the quality of Trump's presidency elsewhere.
